Howard confirms deal with tweet

It has been 583 days since the first word of a possible move of center Dwight Howard out of Orlando—he was to be courted by the Nets, remember—arose. After a long and torturous journey, Howard just might have finally figured out where he will spend his golden NBA years: In Houston.

The Rockets have apparently won a five-team derby that featured the Lakers, Mavericks, Hawks and Warriors, selling Howard on the team’s ability to quickly build a championship contender, centered around Howard in the middle and All-Star guard James Harden on the perimeter.

The Rockets were also able to pitch Howard on the benefits of having Hall of Fame big man Kevin McHale as his coach. Howard has struggled to develop his post-up game over the years, and McHale is one of the best post-up forwards in NBA history, with a wide array of moves. Besides that, Howard has often felt as though he has played for coaches—Stan Van Gundy and Mike D’Antoni—who have not really used him correctly on the offensive end.

“He thinks being coached by another big guy is something that will benefit him for the rest of his career,” a source close to Howard said. “That was important to him, to have a coach with that flexibility.”

USA Today’s Sam Amick first reported that Howard to Houston was a done deal.

But, tellingly, nothing has been finalized, a source told Sporting News. Yahoo! Sports reported that Howard’s agent, Dan Fegan, has said Howard’s final decision would come later on Friday or on Saturday. And Rockets general manger Daryl Morey said via Twitter that, “While we are excited & cautiously optimistic @DwightHoward might choose Houston, we have not yet heard about his decision.”

Further, Alex Kennedy of Hoopsworld.com reported late on Friday that Howard was on his way back to Los Angeles to speak with the Lakers one more time. Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com reported that the problem for the Rockets comes down to money—the fact that Houston can only offer $88 million over four years rather than $117 million over five years.

But Howard went to Twitter late Friday to make it official. He wrote: "I've decided to become a member of the Houston Rockets. I feel its the best place for me and I am excited about joining the Rockets and I'm looking forward to a great season. I want to thank the fans in Los Angeles and wish them the best."

First the Hawks, then the Mavericks, were told they had no chance at Howard. The Warriors, who made a trade to clear cap space in order to sign Andre Iguodala on Friday afternoon, have been operating as if Howard is not a factor in their plans, and only could have acquired Howard via a sign-and-trade deal.

That’s the only thing that is holding up the Rockets now. Before Houston can celebrate, the team has some minor tweaks to make. There still isn’t quite enough money under the salary cap in order to make Howard a maximum salary offer. The Rockets will have to work that issue out before they can give Howard a full contract. To that end, the Rockets dealt rookie Royce White to Philadelphia, freeing another $1.7 million in salary space.

A source told Sporting News that the Rockets are first expected to free up further space for Howard by attempting to send away point guard Jeremy Lin and/or center Omer Asik. With Howard and Harden now getting maximum-sized contracts, the Rockets are intent on keeping their two bargain-level contributors, Chandler Parsons and Patrick Beverly, who make a combined $1.8 million and could both be in the starting five with Howard and Harden next season.

Beyond that, one of the aspects of the Rockets that the team was able to sell to Howard was the ability of general manager Daryl Morey to cram a third star player onto a Howard-Harden roster. Atlanta forward Josh Smith is the leading candidate to fill that spot, the source said. In order to do that, the Rockets will likely have to move both of the contracts of Asik and Lin (valued at a little more than $8 million each based on their structure).

The team would not give Smith a maximum deal, but would get as close as it could to round out the star-caliber trio, all of whom are still in the primes of their careers—Howard (27), Smith (27) and Harden (23) are still considered young by NBA standards.